Premillennialisin
is so clearly taught in Revelation 19 and 20 that it is hard to understand how
anyone can think otherwise without realizing honestly that they are going
against the Biblical text. A kingdom reign of the Messiah was just as clearly
taught in the Old Testament. Jesus and His Scripture-writing disciples also
support the notion of an earthly kingdom headed by the Messiah. Such clearness
in the Bible provides the likely reason why the early church fathers who spoke
on this matter were all premillennialists.

THE FIRST
PREMILLENNIAIJSTS

The first
premillennialists were those who received God's revelation and wrote it down in
the Bible. Eusebius tells us that one of the earliest church fathers that had
heard the Apostle John and others who had known the Lord and His Apostles was
Papias (AD 60-130), the bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, Asia Minor. Papias
taught "that there will be a millennium after the resurrection of the
dead, when the kingdom of Christ will beset up in material form on this
earth." (1) Irenaeus (AD 130-202) tells us that Papias "related that
they had heard from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to these
times" (the Millennium) in book 4 of Papias' writings, which are no longer
extant, except a few fragments. Papias is recorded as saying: "there will
be a millennium after the resurrection from the dead, when the personal reign
of Christ will be established on this earth." (2) Polycarp (A.D. 70-155),
bishop of Smyrna, is also said to have been a premillennialist. (3) The
Epistle of Barnabas
(written between AD 120-150) presents the common belief that "in six
thousand years, all things will be finished ....then shall He truly rest on the
seventh day." The writer speaks of the second coming of Christ with the
clear implication that He will setup the thousand year kingdom on earth,
followed by the eighth day or the eternal state. (4)

Justin Martyr
(AD 100-165) in his Dialogue With Trypho c. AD 140, a Jewish man, made the
following premillennial statement: "But I and others, who are right-minded
Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the
dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then he built, adorned, and
enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare." (5)

Justin
considered premillennialism an aspect of orthodoxy in his day, "And further,
there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of
Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who
believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that
thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of
all men would likewise take place." (6)

IRENAEUS AND
TERTULLIAN

Two of the
greatest ante-Nicene fathers were Irenaeus and Tertullian (AD 160-230).
Irenaeus grew up in Asia Minor and was discipled by Polycarp, who knew the
Apostle John. Irenaeus had a very extensive view of Bible prophecy in his last
five chapters of Against Heresies,
which were suppressed throughout the Middle Ages by anti-premillennialists and
rediscovered in 1571. (7)The restoration of a more literal interpretation and
reading of the early church fathers by many post-Reformationists led to a
revival of premillennialism in the early 1600s. (8) Irenaeus' writings played a
key role because of their clear premillennial statements. "John, therefore, did
distinctly foresee the first 'resurrection of the just,' and the inheritance in
the kingdom of the earth," he says, "and what the prophets have
prophesied concerning it harmonize [with his vision]." (9) Again, Irenaeus
declares, "But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this
world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at
Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory
of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire;
but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom." (10)

"RIGHT-MINDED CHRISTIANS...ARE ASSURED THAT THERE WILL BE
A RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, AND A THOUSAND YEARS IN JERUSALEM, WHICH WILL THEN
BE BUILT ADORNED, ANDENLARGED, AS
THE PROPHETS EZEKIEL AND ISAIAH AND OTHERS DECLARE." -- JUSTIN MARTYR

Tertullian,
who gave us the Latin word "Trinity" was also a strong premillennialist.
He makes his premillennialism clear when he says the following: "But we do
confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before
heaven, only in another state of existence; inasmuch as it will be after the
resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem,
'letdown from heaven,' which the apostle also calls 'our mother from above;'
and, while declaring that our citizenship is in heaven, he predicts of it that
it is really a city in heaven. This both Ezekiel had knowledge of and the
Apostle John beheld." (11)

OTHER EARLY
PREMILLENNIALISTS

Another
outstanding premillennialist of the early church was Lactantius (AD 250-330) of
North Africa. He wrote an important defense of Christianity that was the first
systematic expression of Christianity called The Divine Institutes, which
included a section on prophecy. Lactantius said: "But when the thousand years
shall be completed, the world shall he renewed by God, and the heavens shall be
folded together, and the earth shall be changed, and God shall transform men
into the similitude of angels, and they shall be white as snow; and they shall
always be employed in the sight of the Almighty, and shall make offerings to their
Lord, and serve Him for ever." (12)

Virtually
everyone who wrote on this topic for the first two to three hundred years of
the church's history was a Millennialist. The list would include individuals
like: Clement of Rome, who wrote a letter to an early church around AD 95; (13)
Ignatius of Antioch, who is said to have been a disciple of the Apostles John
and Peter. Early church tradition tells us that he was thrown to lions in AD
107); 14) Theophilus of Antioch (AD 115-181), who wrote one of the first
accounts of primitive church history; (15) Tatian of Assyria, who died in AD
167; Melito, Bishop of Sardis, who died in AD 170; Clemens Alexandrinus, who
was a contemporary of Justin Martyr; Hippolytus, a disciple of Irenaeus was
martyred in AD 230 for his faith. Victorinus, Bishop of Pettau who died in AD
303; Methodius, Bishop of Tyredied in AD 311; an Egyptian bishop named Nepos of the third century;
Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage was martyred in AD 258; and Commodians, a Christian
historian, who wrote about AD 250. (16) Others could be added to the list.

"BUT WE DO CONFESS THAT A KINGDOM IS
PROMISED TO US ON EARTH, ALTHOUGH BEFORE HEAVEN, ONLY IN ANOTHER STATE OF
EXISTENCE..."

-- Tertullian (c. 155-230)

CONCLUSION

It is
generally recognized within the scholarly world of early church historians that
premillennialism was the most widely held view of the earliest church
tradition. One of the leading experts on the doctrine of the early church is J.
N. D. Kelly, who says, "millenarianism, or the theory that the returned
Christ would reign on earth for a thousand years came to find increasing
support among Christian teachers...This millenarian, or 'chiliastic' doctrine was
widely popular at this time." (17) "The great theologians who
followed the Apologists, lrenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus, were primarily
concerned to defend the traditional eschatological scheme against
Gnosticism," explains Kelly. "They are all exponents of
millenarianism." (18)

Philip
Schaff, the dean of American church historians and himself a
postrnillennialist, provided the following summary of the early church's view
of the millennium:"The most
striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is the prominent
chiliasm, or millenarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in
glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general
resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church
embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of
distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
Tertullian, Methodius, and Lactantius." (19)

European
scholar and church historian, Adolph Harnack echoes Schaff and tells us,
"First in point of time came the faith in the nearness of Christ's second
advent and the establishing of His reign of glory on the earth. Indeed it
appears so early that it might be questioned whether it ought not to he
regarded as an essential part of the Christian religion ." (20)

The Bible is
the sole basis from which a believer in Christ should learn what is true. What
others have believed down through church history is really not the issue.
However, when we believe the Bible teaches a particular doctrine, it is not
surprising that others who ha' read the Bible see the same thing. This is
exactly what we find in the early church in regards to premillennialism before
allegorical interpretation began to dominate. Maranatha